Biblical Hospitlity
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Introduction
Introduction
It’s a real joy to be with each of you tonight. Josh thanks for leading worship and Kaitlyn thanks for organizing this tonight.
I’m thrilled to be here with you and I’d love to start with Scritpure
Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality.
Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.
Show hospitality to one another without grumbling.
Rivertree mission: Help one another know Jesus by sharing the gospel and our lives.
this shared life
Some of what I want to share with you tonight is from a few books I’ve enjoyed about biblical hospitality.
The 2 primary influences have been the gospel comes with a housekey and The simplest way to change the world
The title of the second book is pretty catchy.
It probably speaks to the heart of what most christians desire. If the gospel is real. Which we belive it is
If Jesus is really alive
and if the spirit that raised Jesus from the dead actually lives inside of us we want our lives to matter
I think every true Christian wants to change the world. But we wonder how we can do it.
between work, getting kids to school, grandkids, book clubs, tv shows, march madness and so many other things wwe wonder how is change the world even possible.
and want I want to suggest to you tonight is changing the world has much more to do with ordinary obedience of Christians then it does extrodinary heroic moments we might imagine
and one of the greatest secrets to gospel advancement in the church today is actually hospitality.
it’s something we actually can practice3 no matter where we are.
and what this team does through our connection ministry hear at rivertree plays a major role in advance the gospel of christ
and it would be fair to ask
how could helping people park really be part of anything meanignful?
how could preparing coffee have lasting value outside of a little more caffine for people to wake up before church
how can saying hi and welcoming someone have any signifigance wwhen it feels so small?
and those wre fair questions to ask. but I want to offer you this tonight
it’s more then keeping people from hitting a car in our parking lot
it’s more then just providing a good cup of coffe
and it’s more then just hello
know what we get to do together is actually one of the primary ways God reveals himself to the church and to the lost.
and I’ve had moments in my own life I’ve thought that’s all it was. But I’m coming to realize it’s much more then those things
it’s a way the kingdom starts to break through.
Jesus tells a parabale in matt 13:31-32 talking about the smallest of seeds leving a lasting impact much larger then expected.
and sometimes its the small things, the ordiary things in our lives that have a larger impact then we could every imagine when we connect those things to gospel intentiality
but in order to really connect coffee, parking, greeting and seeting people in church with the gospel
it’s improtant that we start with God
I want to spend the next few miniutes looking at the increadible hospitality of God
Some have said the entire bible points to the very fact that God is in his nature hospitlable
And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” And God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food. And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the heavens and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.” And it was so.
In just the first few chapters of Gensis we get to see God’s hospitality
he cretes the heavens and the earth and in doing so he fanishings the perfect home for Adama and eve
he provides everything they need to thrive in joy
and even as they have everything the rebel agaisnt God
they neglect his gracious hospitlity
and they sin. But God responds with Grace. ON the day they sinned they did not Day.
God seeks them. He clothes them and makes them a promise in Geneis 3:15
a reedmer would come
and this becomes teh tension of the story.
God continues to provide hostiblity by iviting and making a way for sinful people to know him.
In Gods call to abraham he says I am blessing you so you will be a blessing
and as the nation of isreal is formed and comes to be the story has it’s high point in Gods ultimate act of hospitality
he sends his son
He satifies his demand for holiness
he he subsitued his holliness for our wickendness
and his death for ours
he did this so he could invite us back into relstionp with him and he would continue to care for us
For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.
Jesus left his home in heaven and he took on flesh
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
moved into the nieghboorhood
and wehn he moves into the nieghboorhood
he becomes a carptenr
a homeless eveanlist
and crufcified by the very people he came to save
but he didn’t stay dead. He rose from the grave and invited people to look into the empty tomb
What I would love for us to realize is any time we practice hospitality we put human flesh on the gospel story
it’s what Romans 15:7 reminds us of
Therefore welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God.
welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you.
This kind of hospitality applies to both those who are close and far from God
as we welcome belivers inot our lives as Christ has welcomed us our relationships beging to and as we model the heart of Christ in this we draw closer to God
As we welcome those who far from jesus into the church it’s one of the most effective ways we put the gospel on display
I think when you park a car
when you shake a hand
when you hold a door
when you just say welcome you are phyusically communicating the story of God to them.
sin makes us feel stranged. and disconnect from God and other people
but God loves us so much that when we were far from him he made a way for us to return to him
When you park a car and say good morning
coffee
welcome
hold the door
help someone find a seat
you are saying to them GOD LOVES YOU and HE HASN’t given up on you.
your actions present the gospel to them just before we sing the gospel and preach the gospel
Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.
when we show hosbility to bleeivers and non belivers it’s as if Gods hosbtality comes through
and this is one of the ways we get to change the world
and one of the things I wanted to do tonight is say thanks. So many people are already expiernce this. but our heart isn’t just to connect people to the church
it’s to connect people to Christ.
We beleive people matter
reflection:
how does your lifestyle communicate about god’s charcter?